1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to providing distributed scan services to legacy devices, and more specifically, for providing support for legacy devices in a Microsoft Distributed Scan environment using proxy scan services.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In a Microsoft Distributed Scan Management environment (DSM), administrators manage scanning services for organizations containing many users. DSM is implemented in Windows Server 2008 R2 and uses Web Services on Devices (WSD) protocol to integrate various devices into the environment.
In DSM, the various devices interact with a Microsoft Distributed Scan Server and a Microsoft Scan Management Console to provide solutions for scanning and post processing of scan data. The various devices (e.g., scanners, Multi-Function Printers, etc.), utilize Microsoft Distributed Scan Device (DSD) and Microsoft Distributed Scan Processing (DSP) compliant services to communicate with the Microsoft Distributed Scan Server and the Microsoft Scan Management Console. The DSD specification describes how scanning devices and services operate in a distributed scanning environment, and specify the device control model. The DSP specification describes how the scanning devices, services, and post processing of scan data operate in the DSM environment. A more detailed discussion of DSM, including DSD, DSP, and Post Scan Processing protocols can be found online at “http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd980751.aspx”.
To support distributed scan, existing devices (i.e., legacy devices) need to implement the new specifications for DSD and DSP. This presents a roadblock for legacy devices to participate in the DSM environment when the legacy devices are non-compliant with one or more elements of the DSD and/or DSP specification.
Thus, it is an ongoing challenge to enable legacy devices to consistently and reliably operate within a DSM environment.